As promised earlier this summer, mobile video calling app Tango has finally made it to the PC. Today, a year after its launch on iOS and Android, Tango is now available for Windows desktop computers (XP, Vista and Windows 7). The company says a Mac version will be available later this year.
As with the mobile product, the new PC version is designed to be easy to use. There is no login or password required. Instead, you just enter in your phone number and email address to get started. For existing Tango users, the PC app automatically populates your address book with your Tango contacts – that is, the folks the app originally discovered in your phone’s contact list upon first install. You can also invite people to join Tango from the new PC app via SMS or email.
Although we didn’t have much opportunity to experiment with the app in its pre-launch state, there is one major, noticeable difference between it and Skype: it looks like a giant iPhone.
Tango has consistently focused on having a minimalist feature set, and the PC app is no different. At launch, there aren’t advanced options like group calling, text chat, file sharing options or credits to purchase. Says Tango Co-founder Eric Setton, of those, text chat would be “great to have” in the future, but it’s not something that’s immediately planned. As for group calling, Tango thinks of that as more of a business-grade feature, and, given its focus on the consumer, is not interested in including it at this time, either.
What is planned for the near future, though, is a premium level of service. Setton says Tango’s voice and video calling will always be free but some yet-to-be announced paid services will be made available later this year as optional add-ons. Tango will not charge for usage or include advertising, Setton confirms, but the company is confident that it can turn a percentage of its 23 million users into paying customers.
In July, the company took in $42 million in series B financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the same VC firm that first invested in Skype. Angel investors Len Blavatnik and Alex Zubillaga also participated. This funding was on top of the $14 million Tango already had in venture capital.
Windows was chosen as the third platform for Tango based on its size (1.5 billion PC’s worldwide) in addition to being the number one feature request from Tango users. To date, Setton says Tango’s adoption has followed smartphone trends with 50% of its user base in the U.S. and the developed markets in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The rapidly growing service is now adding 70,000 to 80,000 new members daily, with 75% of its sign-ups coming through word-of-mouth recommendations. With Tango’s Windows launch, those numbers should increase yet again.
You can grab the new Tango PC app from the company’s website here.